–Employees free to choose the working style that maximizes performance and value–
Mercari, Inc. (“Mercari”) has announced that from September 1, 2021, the company will transition to a new work style policy called “Mercari’s New Normal Work Style ‘Your Choice,’” which focuses on accommodating employees’ diverse ways of working. With the start of “Your Choice,” each employee will be able to select the work style that maximizes performance and value for both themselves and their organization. The policy will give employees the freedom to decide whether to work remotely or in the office, what kind of environment to work in, and other working conditions.
Mercari began its work-from-home policy on February 19, 2020, and on July 1, 2020, the company began a trial run of “Mercari’s New Normal Work Style.” This new work style policy was designed to help the company quickly adapt to the changes brought about by COVID-19, to maximize employee productivity, and to facilitate further growth. Additionally, another Mercari Group company, Merpay, has conducted several pilot programs to investigate various work styles as part of “Merpay Work Lab,” a project to explore new work styles with the goal of enabling employees to work whenever and wherever they want. These trials revealed the many benefits of remote work, such as how it eliminates commuting time and potentially improves work efficiency. At the same time, the project found that coming to the office was sometimes more effective for some situations, such as when onboarding new members. The complexity posed by Mercari Group—with its companies and businesses at different stages of growth and each with its own particular features and challenges—can be difficult to grapple with when working fully remote.
This is what led to the adoption of “Your Choice” rather than a uniform, one-size-fits-all policy. “Your Choice” allows each employee to choose their optimum work style, thereby leveraging benefits of both in-office and remote work.
Through “Your Choice,” Mercari aims to create a workplace that empowers diverse talent by providing an environment where employees can select the working style that best suits their lifestyle. The company also aims to build a globally competitive organization through this new work style policy and ramp up work on building a company culture defined by employees’ shared perspectives and values.
Overview of Mercari’s New Normal Work Style “Your Choice”
“Your Choice” is Mercari’s new work style policy. It allows each individual and team to choose the work style that best enables them to demonstrate greater value and that leads to the highest performance for themselves/their organization.1
Basic rules
- Each employee is free to choose how often they visit the office. They can choose to go to the office, to work fully remote with no office visits in principle, or anything in between.
- Employees can also select where they live and work as long as they reside within Japan.２
- Managers can recommend that a member choose to work in the office or remotely, but ultimately each individual can decide on whatever work style will allow them to maximize the performance and value of both themselves and their team.3
- Note that all employees will continue to receive fair treatment regardless of whether they choose to come to the office or not.
Scope
All employees working at Mercari offices within Japan
Start Date
From September 1, 2021
1. Assumes compliance with instructions and requests issued by the national government, local governments, and other administrative bodies in areas where Mercari offices are located.
2. Some individuals may be required to come to the office in order to meet security criteria or due to other circumstances related to their work duties.
3. Commuting expenses will be fully covered, up to 150,000 yen per month.